Rotary regenerative preheater for air flows of



Aug. 11, 1959- ROT F. HAUSSLER 2,899,179 REGENERATIVE PREHEATER FOR AIR FLOWS 0F ERENT PRESSURE CONNECTED IN PARALLEL eets-Sheet 1 ARY DIF." Filed Aug. 17, 1955 f gvgmvroz Aug. 11, 1959 .HAussLER 2,899,179

- ROTlg REGENERA VE PREHEATER FORIIuR FLOWS OF I FERENT PRESSURE CONNECTED PARALLEL Filed Aug 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 z ,INVfNTOR.

United States Patent RGTARY' PREHEATER FOR FLOWS-F DIFFERENT'PRESSURE CONNECT-ED Friedrich Hiiu'ssl er,.Ne'ckargemund, v.G'erm'any, .assignor. to SvensliaiRotor Maskiner Akti'ebol'ag, Na'cka; Sweden,

I a corporationofSweden v .ApplicafioniAugusti17;.1955,' Serial No. 528,988 Cliiiins..pribrity; appli ation Germany, August 28', 1954" S'CIaims (Cl- 257-267) Thiszinventionzrelatesrto a: rotary regenerativespreheater fO'II' fiows oi". difierentpressure' connected in parallel;

Upon operation ofimodern heat power. plants, particu larly' such 1 operating withifuel such" as? powdered c'oal or oil, the: combustionair: is divided" into.- a. primary and I a secondary air: flow. respectively, thez'primary air flow heingat aihigherfpressurez Preheatingoff these twoair Patented Aug. 11, 1959 ICC ' tive to the registeringstripsr disposedon the end wall' of:

flows of different pressure: is generallyeflected in two;

separatetpreheatersi: The secondary air: flow 'forming the: main part: of t the: total amount: of: combustion air isiordi narily' preheatedi in a rotary.- regenerative: reheater; whereas preheatingptthe primary air' flow. which" is sub 1 stantially smaller in: quantity but of a: higher pressure takes placetiniaismaller. preheater, ordinarily azrecupera tor:- Ill has: further been: suggested torpass the? total air flow throughcazrotary preheater: and to separate; the' prie mary airzflbw after such preheating. Since" thisiprimary air fiow then has to be: brought to the" required". higher? pressure, a .hot'rairxfan is necessary which is not desirable.- Ther'efore; this: solution has not. been carried into eifect;

Gontrary thereto" thissinvention discloses a newi'solution which"enables' onesinglerotary regenerative preheater to sufiice by dividing the air channel into two channels which are practically independentoffone another so that the two airi streams may have quite difierent pressures The invention may be appliedto a: rotary regenerative preheater having: movable: sector plates for sealing-' dead rotor-zones in'which betweenithe edges of theplates'an'd the '-.station'ary='housingsealing means are provided. whichi cooperate with-.scorresponding sealinggmeans disposed at the'aperiph'ery OfthBiIOtOl and at the rotor: shaft to form a z closedsealing: liner around :the complete circumference of the air passage. Thepresent invention contemplatesa further: development of the preheater according to such construction: and accordingito the invention the preheater is characterizedxby the. fact that the -air channel at each? end face of the rotoris: divided into two separate channels by an arcuate concentric seal registering with a corresponding concentric partitio --walI-of-the-rotor. A preheater accordingtoathe inyention, which may be utilized fonpreheating of two air flows of diflierent pressureconnected in; parallel; involves a material simplification and reductionofco'st in relation to solutions hithertoem= ployed practice; p

' Toillustrate the invention'in the drawing:

Figs. 1 to 3 show in simplified manner three embodiments in top views of an end face of the rotor.

Fig. 4 shows a partial axial section on a somewhat enlarged scale illustrating more clearly some details of the construction.

In all of the three embodiments the end face of the rotor is in the ordinary manner divided into a gas passage (in Figs. 1 to 3 the upper passage) having the larger centre angle and a smaller air passage (occasionally below). In the transition zones separating the two channels movable sector plates 1 and 2 are provided which seal ofi the dead rotor zones. These sealing plates 1 and the housing, is of secondary importance to theinventivev idea oithe present invention. Inmany applications it may bdsuflicintwitli'siinple strips which" are somewhatdisplaced relative eaclioth'er and disposed opposite; each, otheritol functionasaelabyrintli seal. Itis, howeverimore advantageous; to. use gas-tight flexible. diaphragm or a movable bellowswhicliis at one side secured-to the mov ablestripsshowm and atthe. other side to the corresponding stripsson tlie stationary end -wallofthe' housing. It

is, lioweyer,.evidentthat. by means: of a seal'Lof-"this or similar kind: along the closed line. 3 5 -4--6 the airchannelI is sealed-01f. relative to the gas-channels In respectthe embodiments. according. tothe present inventiorraresimilar} to -the preheaters described in US; Patent; No. 2,852,234Qgranted St'eptember- 16,. 1958,. and US}; Patent No. 2,813,952 granted February 17 -1 9 59 ,.s'a1d patentsmaturing; fromv applications copending. with} this-f application, other. details ofconstructions: disclosed therein beingadaptable 'for the present invention.

The principal characteristic feature: of. the preheater accordingdo this.invention, .difiering fromthatof tliepreheaters .accordingio. the. above mentioned patentat is-thear cuate. concentric seal" 7 which divides. the: air channel into twonseparate channels, that is,.tlie primary airchan. nel 8land; :the.secondaryr air-cliannel 9l Accordingly; sucha.seal".1"is .providdlat each endlface of the-rotor, whereas th'e: rotorl itself: necessarilyis divided. by a correspondingly, coricentriorotorpartition wall-10.

In the embodiment shown in Eig.,1 the radial sealings 3i andf 4areeommonto the two Sub'channelstMnd-Q-H As the higher.pressure;in the Piimat-y air channel 8 is fol lowed by. greater losses in leakage and sluiced air, the? embodiment accordingdoFigQ Z'attempts to reduce-theseloss es so-thatalltof thesealings .of the primary air channel .8 ar e made-separately. These sealings form a closed line 3 7T--4 -63 which is. disposed within the-line of sealings 3 -5 4 -6 of .thesecondary air channeh Between. corresponding. sealingsfi and 3 -4 and 4'- as wellas 6and' 6', respectively, further small intermediate spaces are left which communicate with the larger seeondary channelr9. Evidently the leakage-and sluicedair-passing fronr tlie air channel-8 through the sealings f.-- 7: 4 6'.- does. not: enter. intothe fiue gas channel tolbe lostwbut entersinto the secondaryairchannel that itvvill' -beutiliz'edagaia .embodiment shown-in Fig. 3 -torms an intermedi ate solutionn between the two. embodiments described? above,as it isnot absolutely necessary to have the cost increasing sealing along the entire circumference of the primary air channel 8. On the contrary, it is sufiicient to provide this double sealing on that radial boundary edge of the primary air channel 8 at which the rotor moves from the air side to the gas side, since at the other radial boundary edge 3 the effect of the sluiced air substantially neutralizes that of the leakage air so that here special provisions are not so important. The direction of rotation of the rotor in Fig. 3 is indicated by an arrow (counterclock direction).

As regards the details of the design it is to be mentioned that preferably an elastic gas-tight metal bellows is used as sealing means. This sealing bellows is shown more in detail in Fig. 4. Corresponding to the circular arc shaped part of the metal bellows a row of tangential walls of the rotor is bordered above and below by a rotor wall flange ring fixed by welding and being of the same diameter, so that reckoned in the radial direction leakage air merely in a smaller amount may pass over such as is permitted by the small clearance between this rotor wall flange 10 and the stationary metal bellows ring 7.

In the simpler embodiment according to Fig. 1 the circular are shaped portion of the metal bellows abuts at both sides on the radial seals 3 and 4 of the secondary air channel 9 and is rigidly secured with its movable portion to the movable sector sealing plates 1 and 2 of the radial sealings so that the movements of adjustment of the sealing plates and those of the metal bellows are connected with each other. v

The drawback of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is that the total pressure drop is effective from the primary air side to the flue gas side and that the relatively great volume of leakage air passing over due to this is lost for combustion, is avoided by the embodiment shown in Fig. 2. The double radial seal will certainly result in a somewhat greater part of the heating surface being ineifective. To make this part of the heating surface, which is inefiective through the shielding, as small as possible, the radial sealing strip secured to a metal bellows is made as narrow as possible. To ensure that in every position at least one radial wall is positioned below the sealing strip to prevent a cross flow of air, the radial walls of the rotor in the primary air portion are disposed narrower than those in the outer secondary air portion. Preferably the heating plates are disposed tangentially in the secondary air portion and radially in the primary portion, as shown, by way of example, in Figs. 1 to 3 for two sectors.

In order to obtain a coupling for the necessary movements of adjustment, the radial sealing strips 3' and 4 are rigidly connected with the movable sector plates 1 and 2 and with the radial seals 3 and 4 of the secondary air passage by means of a number of arms 11, the radial sealing strips and the movable sector plates 1 and 2 being cut in one and the same plate. Between adjacent sealing strips 3 and 3, 4 and 4 as well as 6 and 6', respectively, slots 12 are cut out in all cases, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, said slots serving to equalize the pressure of the leakage air passing over and enabling this leakage air to be led into the secondary air passage 9. The same is true for the embodiment according to Fig. 3 for the intermediate space between the strips 4 and 4 therein.

In all embodiments a seal is provided adjacent the rotor shaft, as shown in Fig. 4, between the rotor and the end plate of the housing. This seal comprises a plurality of concentric rings 13 in the rotor, said rings extending to the upper face of the rotor and establishing the same eiiect as that of a labyrinth seal.

What I claim is:

1. A rotary regenerative heat exchanger for transferring heat from a gaseous medium to air,"comprising a stationary structure provided withend plates forming sector plates extending from the central portion of said structure to the circumference thereof for separating streams of air and gas passing through the exchanger, said structure providing an inlet conduit and an outlet 4 conduit for passage of gas to and from the exchanger and two separate inlet conduits and two separate outlet conduits for passage of air through said exchanger, said separate inlet conduits being at the same end of the exchanger and said separate outlet conduits being at the opposite end of the exchanger, a rotor mounted to rotate between said sector plates and having a plurality of sector-like compartments carrying heat transferring material, said 1 sector plates being movably mounted for sealing against said rotor independent of the distortions of said rotor due to heat expansion, said stationary structure having a common arcuate partition wall at each end of said rotor for separating said air inlets and outlets, said partition wall being concentric with the axis of rotation of the rotor,

said rotor being divided into an inner primary channel and an outer secondary channel by a circular partition wall aligned with said arcuate partition wall, one of said inlets and outlets communicating with said primary channel for conducting high pressure primary air therethrough, the other of said inlets and outlets communicating with said secondary channel for conducting low pressure secondary air therethrough, said sector plates being provided with radially extending sealing means cooperating with said rotor for sealing the radial edges of said inlets and outlets as well as circumferentially extending sealing means for sealing the same with respect to said air inlet and outlet conduits, sealing means rigidly conected to said sector plates for sealing between said circular partition wall and said arcuate partition wall and additional radial sealing means on said stationary structure cooperating with said rotor and said sealing means for sealing between said circular partition wall and said arcuate partion wall for sealing the radial edges of said primary air ,channel at which the rotor moves from the air side to the gas side, there being a space provided between said first mentioned radial sealing means and said additional radial sealing means and passages communicating with said primary air channel and said space whereby leakage ,air leaving said primary air channel may pass through said passages into said space and to said secondary air channel.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which further additional radial sealing means are provided on said stationary structure cooperating with said rotor for sealing the radial edges of said primary air chanel at which the rotor moves from the gas side to the air side, there being an additional space provided between said first mentioned radial sealing means and said further additional radial sealing means, whereby leakage air leaving said primary air channel at both radial edges may pass through said spaces to said secondary air channel.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said heat transferring material comprises plates disposed tangentially in said secondary air channel and plates disposed radially in said primary air channel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

